These chocolate pear and hazelnut brownies are your next favorite brownie dessert. They have all the chocolate goodness of regular brownies, plus roasted hazelnuts and soft pears baked in. Fresh out of the oven, these soft cakey brownies will be devoured quickly.

Three pear and hazelnut brownies stacked on top of each other, sitting on parchment paper

Chocolate and pears are one of my favorite combos. The slight sweetness of soft baked pears and rich chocolate in any sort of dessert is SO good, such as in this Pear Chocolate Crumble Pie. In these brownies the roasted hazelnuts are the perfect addition to complement the subtle pear taste.

For other tasty brownie recipes, try these coffee brownies or these mint brownies.

Ingredients:

Hazelnuts — These hazelnuts will be roasted in the oven to toasty perfection, then chopped and mixed in to the brownies. If you don’t have hazelnuts, you can substitute them with walnuts, but skip the roasting part.
Chocolate Chips — Regular semisweet chocolate chips work well.
Pears — You can use any type of pear. Try to use pears that are ripe or even over-ripe as these will be the softest when baked. This is also a great way to use up pears that are starting to go bad!
Regular baking ingredients — butter, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder and salt.

Overhead view of a pear and hazelnut brownies sitting on parchment paper

Instructions:

First, start by preheating the oven to 325F. Place the hazelnuts in one layer on a baking sheet (with a rim so they don’t roll off). To be efficient, as soon as the oven preheats, place the baking sheet with the hazelnuts in the oven on the middle rack. Roast them for 15 minutes, then remove them from the oven and let them cool down.

While the hazelnuts are roasting, prepare the rest of the batter. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in increments of 20-30 seconds, stirring in between to prevent burning the chocolate chips. Once melted, you should have a smooth chocolatey mix.

In a large, separate bowl, mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder together. Don’t combine the dry and wet ingredients until you have the pears and hazelnuts ready to go.

Two pear and hazelnut brownies stacked on top of each other next to a tall glass of milk

Peel the pears and chop then into small cubes — like diced pears but a bit larger. Once the hazelnuts have cooled, gently remove and discard the skin. It should easily fall off after being roasted. There may be some hazelnuts that don’t have their skin fall off— like bad popcorn kernels that don’t pop. If most of the skin comes off, try using a knife to gently remove the rest. Roughly chop or halve the hazelnuts.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Gently fold in the pear chunks and hazelnuts. Pour the batter into an 8x8 pan that has been greased or lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 40 - 50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

📖 Recipe

Pear and Hazelnut Brownies

Author: Alejandra | The Littlest Crumb
Total Time: 1 h 15 minutes
Yield: 9 large brownies 1x
Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

These chocolate, pear and hazelnut brownies have all the chocolate goodness of regular brownies, plus roasted hazelnuts and soft pears baked in. Fresh out of the oven, these soft, cakey brownies will be devoured quickly.

Ingredients

Scale

½ cup hazelnuts
⅔ cup butter
½ cup chocolate chips
2 eggs
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 cups pears, peeled and cut into small chunks

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F. Place the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet with a slight rim. Once preheated, roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the hazelnuts from the oven and let them cool.
While roasting the hazelnuts, prepare the rest of the brownie batter. Start by greasing or lining an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
Then, melt the butter and chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 20 seconds at a time and stir in between to avoid burning the chocolate chips. Stir until the mixture is smooth and all the chips are melted.
In a separate large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together. Add in the butter and eggs mixture and mix until combined.
In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
Once the hazelnuts have cooled, gently remove the skins from each one. This should be easy to do after roasting them. Roughly chop or halve the hazelnuts.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Fold in the hazelnuts and pears.
Pour the batter evenly into the 8x8 baking pan.
Bake at 325F for 40 - 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Notes

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Some hazelnuts may not easily shed their skin after roasting them. Either discard these ones or use a knife to gently remove the skin.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Category: Brownies
Method: Bake
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 large brownie
Calories: 324
Sugar: 19.1g
Sodium: 309mg
Fat: 22.3g
Saturated Fat: 11g
Unsaturated Fat: 9.8g
Trans Fat: 0.6g
Carbohydrates: 30.4g
Fiber: 2.5g
Protein: 4.1g
Cholesterol: 78mg

Keywords: pears, hazelnuts, brownies